Slurping Goodness @ Ramen Bar

Two Fridays ago, on the day Prince William and Kate Middleton got hitched, Mom and I went to Eastwood for lunch. I was down with horrible colds and cough (which made me miss an awesome Mt. Pinatubo trek with Kim), so I really craved for something hot. Finally, I had an excuse to go eat at the Ramen Bar, which a lot of people raved about.

I've been reading Cecile van Straten's Chuvaness for quite some time and have been enlightened on everything Japanese because of it. The moment I stepped inside, I thought how very MUJI of the Ramen Bar (see Cecile's MUJI entry here). It just made the entire restaurant, it being small, look so vibrant! Plus the anime drawings on the wall are really cute.

Of course we came here for the ramen, and I ordered SPICY KARAAGE RAMEN.

I wanted my ramen to be spicy to help ease the nasal blockage. It helped a lot, I might say. It was really good, the spicy oil gave it a good kick without damaging your taste buds! Generous servings of both noodles and karaage (bonesless chicken), too. People who LOVE spicy would be totally diggin' this!

Mom on the other hand got the SAPPORO MISO RAMEN.

She just had the butter and cream removed from this dish. Had a little taste of it, and it was good, though I wouldn't order since I'm not a huge fan of miso soup. Mom on the other hand, has this addiction to miso soup, and went as far as buying packs and packs of it from the Japanese grocery store. Like my ramen, they were also very generous with their servings.

But this was the absolute winner KAKUNI BUNS.

They're siopao buns with either pork or fish inside, but instead of the huge bun, they're cut up in small pieces. Perfect for pika-pika! We went for the fish, and it was love at first bite! We were given this mayonnaise type of dip, and it just gave it extra flavor! Mom and I had two each, and even if we were so full from the our ramen, we inhaled this. Super good! Don't go to the Ramen Bar without getting these, you won't be sorry!

Suffice to say this may be the closest I could get to having authentic Japanese ramen! Sorry to my favorite Teriyaki Boy Chicken Ramen, but Ramen Bar emerges as the winner (haha!). I'd love to try their other big bowls, they've got other unique stuff that look really enticing.

Eastwood Mall
Ground Level, Eastwood Mall
Eastwood Ave. & Orchard Road, Bagumbayan
Quezon City
Tel. No. 570-9457

What's Your "I Am Sick" Comfort Food?

So I've been sick since the last week of 2010 until NOW! The weatherman seems to be playing tricks on all of us. A lot of people I know right now, are sick or about to be sick. IT SUCKS! I've missed a couple of days at work because of this irritating cough. And while writing this blog entry, my cough is still bugging me!

So my question is, for sick days what is/are your favorite comfort food/s? Of course there's the famous LUGAW or Arroz Caldo (porridge) with chicken. Then there are the soups. The heat making your insides warm and you feel relaxed all at once. And maybe, you can hope that in an hour all your phlegm would have disappeared.

I decided to bump off my blog on our New Year's diner to continue on with my list of home-cooked meals that surpasses Christmas Eve and New Year's. I just wanted to share with you guys my favorite sick days comfort food.

NILADDI. Flat noodles with soup and some food coloring. This is a native dish, something that hails from our province in Cagayan Valley up north. Niladdi is an Ibanag term for noodles. The name may sound weird, but this is HEAVEN! Here's the super simple recipe, I'm sure anyone of you can do it!

Ingredients: Flat noodles, any kind of meat (chicken, pork, beef) and even shrimp, achuete (the red thing for the coloring), bawang (garlic), sibuyas (onions), patis (fish sauce), and water.

Instructions:
1. Saute the garlic and onions in a pot. Add the meat (chicken, beef, or pork) or shrimp.
2. When the water from the meat evaporates completely, put in the fish sauce. The fish sauce depends on how salty you guys want your soup to be.
3. Prepare the achuete by mixing it in water until it turns red. Once it turns red, pour the water into the pot. Use a strainer so that seeds won't go into the soup.
4. Let it simmer until it boils.
5. When it boils a little bit, you may add in water.
6. After you've added the water and it has boiled, add in the niladdi noodles.
7. Just wait for it to boil again. Then it's good to go!

I'm no chef. I actually dislike preparing/cooking food. But I'm willing to learn this just so I could cook it all by myself during sick days. I swear it's the best comfort food. Our helper had mastered the art of cooking niladdi. Maybe you should just ask her how she does it! :)

Lemme know what you're favorite comfort food is! Maybe there's another version of this soup dish! Lemme know!! :D